Final thoughts..

I have learned so much about filmmaking in just one semester & I owe it all to taking the FST 201 course. This class allowed me to explore the different areas of film production, discover my strengths and weaknesses, and find that I am comfortable with and greatly enjoy producing. Prior to taking this course, I was well aware that everyone working in the film industry should be educated on all the departments, individual jobs, and what each person does, but I figured it wasn't detrimental if I didn't know exactly how the camera was operated/functioned or what the editing process was if I worked in a different department. I now know that it is EXTREMELY important (to the infinite power!) to know everyone's jobs, what they're job description is, and how every job is like a puzzle piece and each one is as important as the next to make a production run smoothly!As for myself, I learned that where I lack in coming up with creative content, I make up for in organization and attention to detail. I enjoyed being in the directorship position for the Bran & Park project and it was definitely a learning experience, but I found more success as a producer and it gave me the confidence to pursue it further. On a personal note, this class has allowed me to learn to roll with the punches! Each project definitely had its issues; in the past I would not have handled it without feeling anxious at some point (perfectionism at its finest), but I've become more adaptable from each situation and went panic attack free all semester..woohoo!

Thank you for a great semester Shannon! I thoroughly enjoyed the class & can't wait to take your Doc class in the Fall :) 

Fall 2013!

I need to take a moment and take in the fact that I have already been at UNCW a full academic year!! It is so crazy to think about; this time last year I decided I had it with putting my aspirations on hold & committed to moving 3,000 miles from home to Wilmington, North Carolina for film school. It's been an incredible journey so far, I can see the growth I've made in a year and can't wait for what the next year has in store! I have big plans academically for next semester, I plan on being bombarded with work..and I'm so ready for the challenge! Along with entering the film major, I'm committing to a minor in French so I will be tackling 2 French classes in the Fall. I'm enrolled in the Documentary producing class (FST 330) and FST 302- Documentary with Shannon :) Getting both classes that focus in documentary kind of worked out perfectly; I'm interested in narrative and documentary, but who knows.. I could end up favoring documentary. I'm also extremely excited I am getting the opportunity to do a DIS with Andre. I have found a passion for producing so getting to organize the Cape Fear Environmental Film Forum is just amazing. Words cannot describe how excited I am for the future. It's going to be crazy/hectic/exhausting, but it's definitely what I love and absolutely worth it!

Wild Card

I am beyond excited for this Wild Card Project.  (A little sleep deprived because of it, but all for the love of the art!) Jessica is directing, I am producing, Channing is the Director of Photography, Michelle is Grip, and Kelley is on sound. So far as producer, I have been the one to coordinate schedules, organize our meetings, and prepare the budget proposal. I have started working on securing our locations; we are good to go with our main location- using Channing's house for both interior and exterior shots. I plan on securing Airlie Gardens, the St. Mark's Episcopal Church, and the City of Wilmington permit by Thursday. My next step is to find our talent; I have started posting information about our casting call for Thursday, hoping people will audition on such short notice.
My goal for the assignment is to keep everything running smoothly and within our budget. I feel like I overestimated our budget so it will be nice not having to spend too much. I would like to keep production moving in a timely fashion so we have plenty of time to create what we envisioned in post. There are a lot of elements that will take more time and focus in editing; we want to put in all our effort to make the final edit amazing.

Let Me Tell You Something About Janis Ian...

What didn't I learn this unit? Sound/using the sound equipment is probably my area of least expertise. I've watched everyone else in all my previous groups deal with sound while I handled lighting, producing or directing, so this was my first time getting to operate the sound equipment. It was not as difficult as I thought it would be; all the functions and settings of the H4N were pretty self explanatory and easy to navigate. The only thing I kept forgetting was to stop recording, you hit "stop" instead of "record" again... so we had to edit out some interesting random conversations :) The most difficult part of recording was probably getting ambient noise outside without getting sporadic interruptions; I suppose the interruptions would become part of the ambient noise, but we were striving for a nice, clean sound. Oh yes, one last thing I will remember for the future.. although the sound booth gives US great sound, everyone else in the room can still very much hear it. My apologies to the students who were working in the editing lab; next time I'll wait til the room is empty to scream at the top of my lungs or cry like my boyfriend broke up with me!

Thank you to Kelley for teaching me how to operate the sound equipment! Also, thank you to Kayla for the refresher & walking me through how to compress the sound & open it in Final Cut Pro. Aaand thank you Jason for showing me some Final Cut shortcuts!

Master Shot Editing Update

Filming for the Master Shot Sequence project had its challenges and triumphs; we managed to film everything in a timely fashion and now we've moved on to post. Ryne and Jessica are lead/assistant lead editors and took the reigns for the rough cut. It's coming together how we envisioned the rework of our story, however we hit a major roadblock when realizing it is not in master shot style. Our challenge for the next week will be to get our final edit as close to a master shot sequence without losing the story.  With all the issues we had with organizing background actors and our Bran bailing last minute, we lost sight of the main purpose of the assignment. From here, we can only learn from the experience and do our best to rework the edit. On a positive note, I'm really excited about the edit we do have; it is a culmination of all of our efforts & is definitely something to be proud of. I've learned so much from this one assignment alone, which is all I can really hope for.

Previsualization

This project marks the first time I have created storyboards and a marked shooting script. At first I was sure I'd ruin our overall vision of the project with my terrible drawing skills, but it surprisingly didn't turn out that bad. I'm quite proud of myself for not taking the easy road and drawing stick figures! Although one of the more tedious tasks, I'm so thankful storyboarding is a part of the pre-production process. I have a much better understanding for what exactly we'll be filming and I'll be able to easily reference the storyboards, along with the marked shooting script, overheads, shot list, etc., for a (hopefully) straightforward and productive shoot. Creating the marked shooting script was not as difficult as storyboarding; we had a vision in mind and just needed to express it in writing. The concept for our film involves delusional perceptions; this means that the image we see in POV (while the characters are on drugs) will not be the same as what we see in a more omniscient shot. It was tricky figuring out how to go about going from POV to OTS shot/reverse shot (for example) without making it too disorienting for the audience. After pitching our ideas on Wednesday, Ryne and I met to polish up and distinguish camera movement for the storyboards, time the script, and make a shot list for our shooting schedule. 

Being in the directing position for the first time was a bit intimidating at first, especially with other group members who are so much more knowledgeable and have more experience. However, I can't thank them enough; they've been a huge help and very patient with me in this learning process- I've learned so much already!

Had to share this.. my first attempt at drawing a unicorn..yikes my drawing skills need some improving!

Master Shot Sequence

For this upcoming film project, I have been assigned the director position. My participation thus far in the pre-production process has been interpreting the script and molding it to our film concept. I am also creating the marked shooting script and storyboards for production. As a group, we have found our location and blocked the script to get ideas for cinematography and lighting. In the upcoming weeks of production and post production, I will oversee the cinematography and technical aspects, making sure it reflects our overall vision.

I enjoy being in authoritative positions, however the project should be a culmination of everyone's vision and efforts, not just my own. It is especially important for me to make sure everyone is happy with the final product.


Our adaptation of the Bran and Park script will be quite comical. Bran and Park step away from a small get together to take some magic mushrooms. As the conversation unfolds, both Bran and Park's hallucinations become more and more bizarre; Bran is convinced he is talking to a unicorn and Park sees some unusual characters in the distance behind Bran. I won't reveal too much more, but I will say we are going to have a lot of fun with canted angles and POV shots..